Bruce Willis went from starring in big budget franchises like Die Hard to churning out 22 movies dubbed ‘geezer-teasers’ in three years despite showing obvious signs of cognitive decline.
The 67-year-old action movie megastar’s family this week announced that he was stepping away from acting after being diagnosed with aphasia, a brain condition that affects his ability to understand language and communicate properly.
It’s not clear when Willis was diagnosed with aphasia, but he starred in 14 movies that have been released since the beginning of 2020. Eight more are yet to be released, with all but one of them going direc-to-video.
On the set of those films, directors who worked with Willis saw signs of potential cognitive decline and according to at least two people, he misfired a gun loaded with a blank on the set of Hard Kill. A producer for the film disputed that claim, and no one was injured.
Willis was often accompanied on the set by an entrouge, and his longtime assistant Stephen J. Eads was paid up to $200,000 a film to shepherd him around. On the set of Open Source, small time actor Adam Huel Potter earned up to $4,150 a week to read Willis’ lines to him through an earpiece.
Many of these films were the brainchild of churn factory producer Randall Emmett, known to many as the ex-boyfriend of Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent. Emmett has at least 20 credits on late era Willis movies.
Emmett, 50, has produced more than 110 movies, which have grossed in excess of $1.2 billion. His films have starred the likes of Willis, Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg, Nicolas Cage and Michael Douglas.
Perhaps infamously, Emmett is best known as Wahlberg’s former personal assistant and the inspiration for the character Turtle on the Wahlberg-produced HBO series Entourage.
Bruce Willis went from starring in big budget franchises like Die Hard to churning out 22 movies dubbed ‘geezer-teasers’ in three years despite showing obvious signs of cognitive decline. Many of these films were the brainchild of churn factory producer Randall Emmett (right), known to many as the ex-boyfriend of Vanderpump Rules star Lala Kent. Emmett has at least 20 credits on late era Willis movies
Kent is the ex-girlfriend of Randall Emmett (pictured left), who produced over 20 of Willis’ later period films prior to his retirement. Kent starredas Willis’ daughter in the film ‘Hard Kill’ where she claimed he misfired the gun twice before saying the line that was supposed to precede the shot.
Bruce Willis, 67, allegedly fired his gun on the wrong cue twice during the filming of Randall Emmett-produced Hard Kill in 2020. No one was injured – and the incident was denied by the film’s producer and armorer
Director Mike Burns posted video of Willis on the set of Wrong Place, which he said ‘might be Bruce’s last film’
His formula, according to a Vulture story from last year, involves accepting money from ‘just about anyone willing’ to give it up, then pass it along to the aging stars for very little work to sell the film to studios. He’s also accused of bypassing unions for crew members and filming in the cheapest possible locations.
The Writers Guild of America-West has placed his production company, Emmett/Furla/Oasis, aka EFO Films, on its strike list for unpaid residuals.
The roadmap for how these films works is meant to trick the viewer into believing the stars such as Willis are the main attraction, when really they’re just a supporting player.
‘With Bruce Willis, there’s almost a model for how he features in these movies,’ producer Adam Champ explained. ‘One of my clients calls it a ‘geezer teaser’: You have Bruce Willis at the intro of the movie, so people are like, Great, this is a Bruce Willis movie. But he’s actually a secondary character who shows up sporadically.’
For example, Willis appears for just seven minutes in Hard Kill, with more than a few of these movies keeping him under 10 minutes.
Producer Corey Large was behind the scenes of several of Willis’ films, including Anti-Life
Lala Kent, the star of Vanderpump Rules who played Willis’ daughter in the movie, said she was supposed to duck after he delivered his line, but the action hero shot his gun before speaking
‘There is a bullying kind of exploitative nature to some of the directors involved in the Bruce Willis movies,’ said one producer who worked with Emmett. ‘Days keep getting cut down to such an extreme extent that there’s no way to make a good movie, and ultimately that’s going to fall on the director and the talent involved.’
Willis worked primarily for Emmett/Furla Oasis and 308 Entertainment Inc., a Vancouver company backed by actor and producer Corey Large.
Large produced and co-wrote one of the films still set to be released, Paradise City, which reunited Willis with Pulp Fiction co-star John Travolta after 27 years.
The actor’s representatives at CAA would limit Willis’ work on the set of these films to just two days, with contracts stating he could not work over eight hours. Sources told the Los Angeles Times he would often be gone after four hours on films he would often bank as much as $2million on.
Joshua Hunt, who wrote the Vulture story, tweeted after Willis’ diagnosis was revealed: ‘Only Willis and his family know how long he’s been dealing with these issues and whether or not producers exploited his condition. And at the end of the day, his paychecks for Emmett’s ‘geezer teasers’ were enormous.’
Some of these movies would line the pockets of those connected to Willis to help him get through shooting. Stephen J. Eads, Willis’ longtime assistant, received up to $200,000 a film to shepherd Willis around and even got a producer credit.
Eads wasn’t the only person well compensated to keep Willis’ work together. Adam Huel Potter earned up to $4,150 a week on the film Open Source to read Willis’ lines to him through an earpiece and even received an on screen role.
Willis’ assistant Stephen J. Eads (pictured to Willis’ direct left), would make up to $200,000 and receive a producer credit on films for shepherding Willis and ‘keeping an eye on him’
Stephen J. Eads, Bruce Willis’ assistant for decades who became his ‘handler’ on most movies
On those films, the directors who worked with Willis saw signs of potential cognitive decline.
According to two people familiar with the incident, Willis misfired a gun that was loaded with a blank on the set of Hard Kill, though a producer for the film disputed that this happened. No one was injured.
On the set of that movie, he played a role opposite Lala Kent and she claimed he misfired the gun twice before saying the line that was supposed to precede the shot.
‘I’m supposed to think my life is about to end, and then my dad steps in to save the day,’ said Kent.
A number of people attested to Willis’ decline in recent years and said they were worried about his well being. They spoke of him being unable to remember his lines, with an actor who came with Willis to the set giving him his lines via an earpiece.
Bruce Willis and Chad Michael Murray in Fortress. Willis can be seen wearing an earpiece in the scene
During the filming of White Elephant with director Jesse V. Johnson (pictured right) in 2021, two crew members said that he openly asked, ‘I know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here, but why am I here?’
Willis, famous for his willingness to do his own stunts, used a body double for most of the action scenes in these movies.
The director of White Elephant, a former stuntman named Jesse V. Johnson, said he had worked with Willis in the past and the one who showed up to set in Georgia in April 2021 was ‘not the Bruce I remembered.’
‘They stated that he was happy to be there, but that it would be best if we could finish shooting him by lunch and let him go early,’ Johnson said when he confronted Eads.
Two crew members even said he asked them: ‘I know why you’re here, and I know why you’re here, but why am I here?’
Johnson said he was given a chance to make two more movies with Willis, after seeing the star ‘puppeted’ through White Elephant, he refused.
Willis on the set of Paradise City, which reunited him with Pulp Fiction co-star John Travolta
A still from Paradise City, the first time Willis and Travolta had worked together in 27 years
‘After our experience on ‘White Elephant,’ it was decided as a team that we would not do another,’ Johnson said. ‘We are all Bruce Willis fans, and the arrangement felt wrong and ultimately a rather sad end to an incredible career, one that none of us felt comfortable with.’
Shortly before beginning production on Out of Death, director Mike Burns sent an email to the write of the film saying Willis’ part needed to be cut by ‘about five pages,’ according to the LA Times .
Just days before Willis was scheduled to turn up on the set of one of his latest action films, the director of the project sent out an urgent request: Make the movie star’s part smaller.
‘We also need to abbreviate his dialogue a bit so that there are no monologues, etc,’ and keep his work ‘short and sweet,’ Burns said in the June 2020 email.
Burns, who acted in at least one of the films he made with Willis, said the decline was noticeable.
‘After the first day of working with Bruce, I could see it firsthand and I realized that there was a bigger issue at stake here and why I had been asked to shorten his lines,’ he said.
Burns was also offered a spot to direct a second film with Willis and agreed after asking an associate, who claimed the actor was ‘way better than last year.’
Upon meeting him in October, Burns said: ‘I didn’t think he was better; I thought he was worse. After we finished, I said: ‘I’m done. I’m not going to do any other Bruce Willis movies.’ I am relieved that he is taking time off.’
Burns posted footage of Willis from the set of that film, Wrong Place, on Instagram after the announcement was made.
The Razzies, the parody award show that ‘honors’ the worst in cinema every year, had taken notice of Willis’ recent turn.
Willis is perhaps best known for his role in the Die Hard series as John McClane
Willis (pictured in American Siege) had been having trouble on set for a while and reportedly had to wear an earpiece in American Siege to have his lines fed to him
Willis, 67, was roasted for the Worst Performance by Bruce Willis in a 2021 Movie award at the Golden Raspberries (Razzies), which honored actors for their under-achievements last week, for his role in American Siege and seven other films last year.
The show’s co-founders John Wilson and Mo Murphy said in a statement to the New York Post: ‘After much thought and consideration, the Razzies have made the decision to rescind the Razzie Award given to Bruce Willis, due to his recently disclosed diagnosis.
‘If someone’s medical condition is a factor in their decision making and/or their performance, we acknowledge that it is not appropriate to give them a Razzie.’
Willis was nominated eight times in the Worst Performance by Bruce Willis category for the 2021 films he starred in, which included American Siege, Cosmic Sin, Apex, Deadlock, Fortress, Midnight in the Switchgrass, Out of Death, and Survive the Game.
Following the shocking news of the actor’s diagnosis, the Razzies tweeted on Wednesday: ‘The Razzies are truly sorry for #BruceWillis diagnosed condition. Perhaps this explains why he wanted to go out with a bang in 2021. Our best wishes to Bruce and family.
The parody award show revoked the honor on Wednesday after Willis’ family announced he was diagnosed with aphasia, which has caused the actor to retire from the entertainment industry
‘To clarify, we heard about Willis’ diagnosis at the same time everyone else did…just this morning.’
An unnamed source told Page Six his declining cognitive ability had been an open secret in Hollywood as the actor repeatedly had trouble acting in his films.
On Wednesday his family wrote in a statement on social media: ‘To Bruce’s amazing supporters, as a family we wanted to share that our beloved Bruce has been experiencing some health issues and has recently been diagnosed with aphasia, which is impacting his cognitive abilities.
‘As a result of this and with much consideration Bruce is stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him.’
The statement added: ‘This is a really challenging time for our family and we are so appreciative of your continued love, compassion and support. We are moving through this as a strong family unit, and wanted to bring his fans in because we know how much he means to you, as you do to him.
‘As Bruce always says, ‘Live it up’ and together we plan to do just that,’ the statement, which was signed by his wife, model Emma Heming Willis, his ex-wife Demi Moore and all of his children, concluded.
According to the National Aphasia Association, the condition is an impairment of language, affecting the production or comprehension of speech and the ability to read or write.
The association reports the condition is always due to injury to the brain, most commonly from a stroke, particularly in older individuals.
Head trauma and brain tumors from infections can also cause aphasia.
The only treatment is speech and language therapies, with involvement from family members – but even with that, the condition could worsen.
It is currently unclear what lead to Willis’ diagnosis.
The announcement marks an end to Willis’ decades-long career, during which he has earned a Golden Globe award and two Emmys.
On Wednesday, Willis’ family shared this photo of the 67-year-old actor to announce he has been diagnosed with a brain condition called aphasia, which affects one’s ability to comprehend both verbal and written language
His family shared a statement on their social media pages announcing his diagnosis on Wednesday and saying he will be be ‘stepping away from the career that has meant so much to him’